Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) will host 12 Israeli orphans who lost parents in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel at the Senate Republican Conference’s lunch meeting on Thursday, Jewish Insider has learned.

“We must never forget the unimaginable suffering depraved Hamas terrorists inflicted on innocent Israeli families during the October 7th attacks and I’m proud to play a small role in honoring those lost,” Moreno said in a statement to JI. “Hamas started this war and is solely responsible for the death [and] destruction.”

“Today will send a message that the Republican Senate Conference will always stand with Israel and stand ready to assist them eradicate Hamas,” Moreno continued.

The group was organized by Hagiborim, a group supporting Israeli orphans, and the visit was coordinated by the Falic family and former Bal Harbour, Fla., Mayor Gabriel Groisman.

Senate lawmakers gather weekly for private lunch conversations with most members of their party and sometimes featuring guest speakers.

The emerging race to succeed outgoing Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN), who announced last week that she would not seek reelection, is setting the stage for an ideologically divisive Democratic primary, with rival members of the party’s progressive and moderate wings now eyeing the rare open seat.

While just one candidate, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, has so far entered the primary, a range of state and federal lawmakers are expressing interest in joining the race — most recently Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN), a moderate Democrat who on Monday said that she is “giving serious consideration to” a campaign and “will make a decision in the near future.”

If Craig chooses to run, she would likely emerge as the favored candidate among pro-Israel activists in Minnesota, Jewish community leaders say, citing a strong record of support. The four-term lawmaker, who represents a swing district covering the Twin Cities’ southern suburbs, is an ally of the pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC and has been willing to speak out against Democratic colleagues amid Middle East policy disagreements.

By contrast, Flanagan, a prominent progressive who announced on Thursday that she intends to run for Senate, is seen as largely aligned with J Street, the left-wing Israel advocacy group that has frequently clashed with AIPAC. 

A poll by the Democratic polling firm Public Policy Polling shows Flanagan leading Craig 52-22% in a hypothetical head-to-head matchup, with 27% of primary voters undecided. Flanagan’s lead is attributable, in part, to her higher statewide profile. But Flanagan’s ties to the activist left could face increased scrutiny in the primary, said Manny Houle, a pro-Israel strategist who has worked in Minnesota. “Some of her friends are very far on the left,” he noted. “Will folks paint her in one direction?”

Flanagan has remained “a bit of a cipher” on Israel during her tenure as an elected official, said a Jewish leader who was granted anonymity to speak candidly about the lieutenant governor.

She has also “really tried to be careful about how she approaches Israel” and its war in Gaza, said another Jewish leader who also spoke on the condition of anonymity to address a sensitive issue. 

Even as Flanagan has built positive relationships with the organized Jewish community, her “close connections to some progressives who are ardently anti-Zionist” have likewise raised concerns among local activists, according to the Jewish leader.

Democratic Majority for Israel suggested that it is taking a wait-and-see approach to Flanagan as some potential candidates who have been openly hostile to Israel also consider jumping into the primary — most notably Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), who is among the fiercest critics of Israel in the House. 

“There are a couple of possible candidates for this seat whose extraordinary hostility to the U.S.-Israel relationship is legendary,” Joel Wanger, DMFI’s chief political officer, said in a statement to Jewish Insider on Tuesday. “There are also a number of potential pro-Israel candidates as well including Rep. Angie Craig, and Governor Tim Walz, both of whom have strong voting records, and Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan, who does not have a Congressional voting record on Israel issues, but with whom we have been in touch and who has made pro-Israel statements.”

Flanagan’s team did not respond to a request for comment.

In addition to Walz, whom one source informed of his thinking told JI is unlikely to mount a campaign for the Senate seat, the primary has drawn interest from Keith Ellison, the state attorney general who has also sparred with the pro-Israel community, and Steve Simon, the secretary of state, among other Democrats. 

Depending on how the primary field shapes up, Yiscah Bracha, a pro-Israel Democratic activist in Minneapolis, said the race could compel the state party, whose anti-Israel wing is particularly sizable and outspoken, to “choose its future direction.”

“Right now, things feel paralyzed,” Bracha told JI in an email on Tuesday. “We have a far-left faction for which hostility toward Israel is an ideological purity test. We have a more traditionally liberal faction, which advocates for caring pragmatic governance, but sometimes cannot articulate exactly what that means. Both argue, in the abstract, that its direction is most competitive against Republicans, but there has been an institutional unwillingness to choose.”

Instead, she said, “the party has tried to walk an increasingly narrow balance beam, prioritizing coalition management over making what could be an electorally existential choice.” The open Senate race in 2026, she added, “could force that choice.”

The state party is in the process of electing a new leader, after Ken Martin, the former longtime chair, was recently chosen to lead the Democratic National Committee. Even though Martin and Flanagan have long been friends, sources familiar with his thinking predicted that he would not publicly weigh in on the Senate race.

Likewise, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has indicated it will not take sides in the race, even as its new leader, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), has reportedly voiced interest in engaging in contested primaries.  

In a statement, David Bergstein, a spokesperson for the DSCC, said the group is not concerned the seat could fall under GOP control. “No Republican has won a Minnesota Senate race in over 20 years and Democrats will continue to hold this seat in 2026,” he said.

Still, Republicans have indicated they are taking the primary seriously, with several potential challengers looking at the seat. Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said on social media last week that “Minnesota is in play, and we play to win.” 

Some sources speculated that the DSCC is privately in favor of Craig entering the race, suggesting that the group is now seeking to recruit more moderate candidates as it gears up for a challenging election season after losing the Senate majority in the most recent cycle.

Meanwhile, several party activists are privately and publicly urging Craig to enter the primary, including former Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN), who on Monday praised what he called her “principles, pragmatism and both private sector and political experience” as “a combination of attributes which we need more of in Washington.”

Craig did not return a request for comment about her plans for the race. 

A spokesperson for AIPAC, whose political action committee spent heavily in several House primaries last election cycle, told JI on Tuesday that the group has “not yet made any decisions on” the Minnesota race at this early stage.

As the Democratic primary field materializes, one Jewish community leader in Minnesota predicted that intraparty tensions over Middle East policy are likely to become a “flashpoint” in the race, especially if Craig ends up facing a left-wing challenger seen as hostile to Israel.

“If she runs,” the Jewish leader said of Craig, Israel “is going to be front and center.”

Sen. Andy Kim (D-NJ) said on Tuesday that Edan Alexander, the Tenafly, N.J., native who has been held hostage by Hamas since Oct. 7, has not yet been released because he is “tied in with phase two” of the cease-fire deal. 

Kim was part of a bipartisan group of senators who traveled to Israel after attending the Munich Security Conference to meet with Israeli leaders, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar. The New Jersey senator wrote on X on Monday that he was in Jerusalem “to ensure we use every diplomatic tool available to get New Jersey’s Edan Alexander, and all remaining hostages, home safely.”

Speaking to Jewish Insider at the Capitol shortly after landing back in Washington, Kim said that he “did not get any update” on Alexander’s status in hostage-release negotiations. 

“I met with Edan’s mother, and then I raised his name in every single one of the meetings. The challenge there is that he’s kind of tied in with phase two. I did not get a sense of where those negotiations stand,” Kim said. “When we met with Netanyahu, he said that he was going to be meeting with his counsel about what to do about phase two.”

“I tried to press and say, ‘Look, you’ve got to keep this diplomatic process going forward,’” he continued. “I really think that this has to be the moment. If we lose it, I think it’ll just be all the more difficult.”

The second phase of the cease-fire deal includes Hamas freeing the rest of the hostages, who are all young men. Phase one, which is currently underway, includes women, children, men over 50 and others described as “humanitarian cases.” 
The Tenafly native, who turned 21 while in captivity in December, was on IDF patrol at Kibbutz Nirim when he was kidnapped into Gaza by Hamas terrorists. Hamas published an undated video of Alexander on Nov. 30, 2024, which was the first and only proof of life of the Israeli-American hostage in his 500 days of captivity.

Think of the just-launched and first-ever House Jewish Caucus as a family — a big, noisy, opinionated Jewish family.

Brad Schneider (D-IL), one of the caucus’ co-chairs, emphasized his interest in keeping the caucus as a place where Jewish members “can have family conversations in a safe place that stays within the family.”

Given the fraught political time the Jewish House members find themselves, and with some of the thorny issues at play, Schneider said, “There may be moments where the moment allows or demands a unified voice from the Jewish members, and we’ll cross that bridge when we get there. But on a day-to-day basis, and the vast majority of conversations we’re going to have we’re not going to have unanimity, and that’s the point. We’ll be able to help inform each other, which I think is a good thing.”

The caucus, announced earlier this month, came together following more than a year of behind-the-scenes discussions and negotiations between key leaders and other members, some of whom began as opponents of the idea of having such a group.

Every Jewish Democratic member has joined or plans to join the caucus, which will be chaired by Reps. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) and Schneider. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) was a founder of the group alongside Nadler, but isn’t taking a leadership position now that it has been created. No Republican Jewish members are expected to join at this point.

The formalized caucus comes after a tradition of Jewish Democratic lawmakers meeting privately in an informal caucus to discuss issues of concern and meet with key officials and experts, organized by the senior-most Jewish lawmaker in the House, which has been Nadler since former Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY) retired.

But some members, including Wasserman Schultz, have wanted for years to create a formal caucus.

“We’ve always agreed that we need to find a way to amplify our voices rather than having them watered down,” Wasserman Schultz said in a joint interview with Nadler with Jewish Insider. “As the House continues to consider legislation that impacts the American Jewish community, we really needed a caucus to ensure that Jewish members’ voices were at the table.”

Nadler said he didn’t see the need for a caucus until the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, which precipitated rising antisemitism at home, and President Donald Trump’s return to the White House, accompanied by Elon Musk, whom he described as having a history of antisemitic activity.

“It’s obviously a very much more fraught or hostile environment, and that persuaded me that we have to get more formal and have a caucus,” Nadler said.

The moment that most spurred Schneider’s interest, he told JI in a separate interview, was a Democratic leadership press conference following the Colleyville, Texas, synagogue hostage situation in 2022, where the Black, Hispanic and Asian Pacific American caucuses were represented alongside House Democratic leaders, but there was no Jewish leader.

“We’re talking about an antisemitic event and there’s no Jewish representation,” Schneider recounted. “It wasn’t intentional, it wasn’t excluding the Jewish groups. It was that we have [other] organized groups who all were speaking out against hate and there was only the informal Jewish group.”

He said that, in response to antisemitic incidents, especially since Oct. 7, he felt the Jewish community needs “an address [in Congress] so that when people say, ‘we should include the Jewish members in this,’ they know who to go to. And we need a voice who can speak out about these issues.”

Addressing the motivations for forming the caucus, Wasserman Schultz also highlighted recent surveys showing the Jewish community overwhelmingly feels less safe, while Nadler noted that there are potential threats to federal nonprofit security funding as the Trump administration pursues wide-ranging federal budget cuts. 

Wasserman Schultz said that the caucus will seek to promote other Jewish community values like education and tikkun olam, which could bring it into broader fights over the Trump administration’s efforts to cut federal spending.

While Nadler and Wasserman Schultz said the group is open to any member who identifies as Jewish and agrees with its mission statement, none of the three Jewish Republicans in the House are currently members. After the anticipated election of Florida state Sen. Randy Fine, there will be four Jewish Republicans in the House, the largest group in years.

Rep. David Kustoff (R-TN) does not join any caucuses, as a rule, and Wasserman Schultz said she had yet to connect with freshman Rep. Craig Goldman (R-TX). Rep. Max Miller (R-OH), who had expressed interest in joining the caucus, attended one of its earlier meetings but “for some reason has declared this to be the Democratic Jewish Caucus, which it certainly is not,” Wasserman Schultz said.

Miller did not respond to a request for comment.

Nadler and Wasserman Schulz said that their collaboration, as well as that of their staff, was key to bringing the caucus to life. They and other Jewish members began having discussions in late 2023, and Wasserman Schultz officially registered the caucus. 

In the intervening year, they and their offices negotiated on issues where they disagreed, and each consulted with like-minded colleagues, a process Wasserman Schultz said was made easier by the preexisting informal caucus. 

Wasserman Schultz said that the main disagreements between herself and Nadler revolved around the “mechanics” of how the caucus would make decisions, whether it would limit the topics it will focus on and how it will handle major differences on issues. 

Nadler said they resolved those issues through bylaws that the caucus plans to pass, which will govern how and when the caucus will take a position on issues and ensure that no one leader is speaking for the entire group.

“I think we’ll make sure that there’s a consensus on anything, on any position we take,” Nadler said.

Wasserman Schultz said that the Jewish members “overwhelmingly agree on most things” but there are “a few things that we have a harder time agreeing on but that’s because the community itself has a harder time agreeing and speaking with one voice.” 

And she said the members “all have a sense that we’re not going to take positions on every issue, or even very often.”

Schneider added that having two leaders would ensure that no specific member’s voice or opinions would be viewed as speaking for the entire caucus, which “run[s] a pretty wide spectrum of opinions.”

“Having two members, you get a balance,” Schneider said. “Having the two leaders creates the ability to more broadly and more effectively represent the full breadth of opinions.”

Israel and Middle East policy are among the most notable issues where the caucus’s members have strikingly different opinions: some are among the most vocal supporters of Israel in the House, while others voted against supplemental aid last year. There are also differences among caucus members on antisemitism policy, such as the Antisemitism Awareness Act.

The caucus still needs to negotiate with Democratic House leaders about formalizing their role alongside other Democratic affinity caucuses — which meet regularly with Democratic leadership — among other steps.

Wasserman Schultz, despite her central role in bringing the group together, said she wasn’t interested in a formal leadership position given that she already leads a series of other caucuses and groups relating to Jewish issues.

“I do not have to have a title for everything connected to the Jewish community,” she said, while adding that she felt strongly that Nadler should be one of the co-chairs. “I’m very proud and thankful that I was able to be a part of launching it and now I will happily be a rank-and-file member.”

Schneider said that colleagues came to look at him as a potential chair after he put forward a “clear vision” and “working framework” for how the caucus could operate during last year’s negotiations.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is facing criticism for his controversial pick to chair the board of trustees at the University of West Florida, with a bipartisan group of Jewish lawmakers raising concerns about the appointee’s “history of antisemitic and misogynistic rhetoric.” 

Scott Yenor, a political scientist at Boise State University and a staffer at the right-wing Claremont Institute, is under fire for suggesting last month that only straight white men under 65 are capable of rising to political leadership positions. 

The Florida Senate has approval power over appointments to university boards, including UWF, a public university in Pensacola.

In a series of tweets Yenor posted during Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s confirmation hearings in January, he described Democrats’ “slim pickin’s” for “national leadership or for reforming the party.”

“Of the 47 Democrat Senators, only six are straight white men under the age of sixty-five,” Yenor wrote. “Nine are Jews, two of whom are women and four of whom are 65-years-old or older.” 

Then, he named “the six straight, white non-Jews,” and added that the “three male Jews under sixty could also fall into the category of party reformers.” 

Florida state Sen. Randy Fine, a Republican who is widely expected to win an upcoming special congressional election to fill the seat vacated by former Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL), now President Donald Trump’s national security advisor, called on DeSantis to “reconsider” his appointment of Yenor. A spokesperson for DeSantis did not respond to a request for comment. 

“Antisemites have no place in Florida’s universities, let alone as its leaders,” Fine wrote in a post on X last week. Fine, the only Republican Jewish senator in Florida, signed his name to a letter by the Democrat-dominated Florida Jewish Legislative Caucus calling Yenor’s rhetoric on social media — which has also taken aim at career-oriented women — “deeply offensive” and “incompatible with the principles of leadership and integrity that should define Florida’s higher education system.” 

The Florida Senate voted on Tuesday to take Yenor out of consideration for a position leading the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, a move spearheaded by Fine. Yenor remains in his role as UWF’s board chair.

In a tweet on Thursday, Yenor stood by his comments and said that criticism of them is a “deliberate mischaracterization by dishonest media & the left actively working to prevent the reform of Florida’s institutions.” Yenor called himself an “ardent supporter of Israel and the Jewish people.”

He told Jewish Insider on Tuesday that he “was saying that Democrats would not abide having Jews in leadership roles, based on the Josh Shapiro experience.” He was referring to Kamala Harris’ decision not to choose Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Jewish Democrat, as her running mate.

In Florida, the governor has the power to appoint trustees of public universities, and DeSantis has set out to fill the institutions with people committed to fighting what he has described as progressive dominance of higher education.

Arab states are working on a hybrid plan for postwar Gaza that would incorporate voluntary migration from the enclave alongside reconstruction for those who wish to stay, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said during a press conference in Tel Aviv on Monday.

Graham, together with Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK), led a delegation of senators in Israel including Joni Ernst (R-IA), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), who also addressed efforts to counter the Iranian nuclear threat and bring about Saudi-Israel normalization in their remarks to the press.

Graham’s remarks came as Saudi Arabia was spearheading efforts by Gulf Cooperation Council members — the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and Kuwait — as well as Egypt and Jordan, to come up with a plan to rebuild Gaza and sideline Hamas.

A mini-summit on the subject set to be held in Riyadh on Friday was called in response to President Donald Trump’s plan to evacuate all Palestinians from Gaza and have the U.S. take over and rebuild it. Trump has been unclear on whether, when and how many Palestinians would be able to return to Gaza.

Graham said that the Arab leaders’ meeting was “to come up with a plan that would allow Palestinians to leave if they would like, but if they don’t, [to] stay in place while there’s reconstruction.”

“President Trump started a conversation that was long overdue,” Graham said. “I’m quite optimistic that the Arab world will come up with a plan to show President Trump how to deal with the Palestinian issue without driving them all out.” 

Blumenthal said he spoke with Jordan’s King Abdullah II recently, who said “the plan the Arab states will offer to President Trump provides a realistic prospect for normalizing relations, self-determination for Palestinians and security for Israel. If those components are part of a realistic plan, it could be a game-changer for the region.”

Graham said that in the senators’ meetings with Netanyahu and other officials — they met with Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar and Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana — the Israeli officials said they believe that Palestinians should be given the option to leave Gaza, if they wish. “They are not talking about a forced exodus by Israel or anyone else.”

Blumenthal said that “the Trump plan is a non-plan. It’s a hot mess.”

“The possibility of a takeover … involving any troops or taxpayer dollars is simply a nonstarter,” he added.

Graham said that “there is very little appetite for the U.S. to take over Gaza in any way,” nor should Israel be involved in reconstruction or demilitarization of the area.

“Who will change the education system in Gaza? The Arabs. Who will give economic hope to the Palestinians? The Arabs. We’re not spending a dime. We didn’t start this war. Deradicalization and demilitarization should be the role of the Arabs,” Graham said. 

As for Israeli security, Schiff said that “the magnitude of the horror inflicted on Israel 500 days ago [on Oct. 7, 2023], but also the wave of antisemitism it unleashed around the world … must contribute to a sense in Israel of being alone. We want you to understand that you’re not alone — you have a very powerful friend and ally standing with you, that is, the United States of America.”

Schiff emphasized that “Hamas cannot be allowed to impose any authority in Gaza again; that is a nonstarter.” 

Graham also said that “no one expects Israel to make any kind of deal that would lead to another Oct. 7 and that would allow Hamas to stay in charge.” 

“Israel should be able to go anyplace in Gaza,” Graham proposed. “We didn’t leave Germany or Japan [after World War II]. It would be foolish to expect Israel to leave the day Hamas is destroyed. It has legitimate military concerns … Israel needs the security presence required to prevent another Oct. 7.”

However, Graham clarified that Israeli military access to Gaza does not mean a permanent Israeli occupation of Gaza.

The senators all expressed hope that the hostages will be released soon, with Democrats calling to extend the current cease-fire, while Graham said it is up to Israel whether it wants to continue to the deal’s second stage.

Kim said that he spoke about the last living U.S. hostage in Gaza, Edan Alexander, his constituent in New Jersey, at every meeting in Israel.

“Hostages are not leverage and should not be used as such means,” Kim said. “The fact that they are is despicable … This is a moment right now, in this diplomatic window, to push forward for the release of them all.” 

Graham repeatedly said that countering the Iranian nuclear threat must be prioritized, adding that the Trump administration will soon have to choose between a military response and negotiations. The senator said his preference would be for the U.S. to “help Israel deliver a decisive blow against Iran nuclear infrastructure.”

However, if the administration decides to negotiate with Iran, it should adopt a “Libyan model,” Graham said, by which they would have to decide what success looks like and set a limit for the time in which talks would take place.

If the talks fail, “we need to quickly pivot to give Israel the capabilities they’re lacking — it’s not much — to give the decisive blow against the Iran nuclear program. One Holocaust was enough,” Graham said.

“I trust President Trump to make sure that we do not have a nuclear breakout in Tehran on his watch,” he added. “Iran will never know peace in this region as long as the Ayatollah and his henchmen terrorize the region.” 

Ernst — who Graham quipped “can’t say hello without mentioning Iran” — warned the Islamic Republic that “we are coming for you.”

“Iran, listen very clearly,” she said. “We will put maximum pressure on you and work with our Israeli partners to make sure you do not succeed economically, militarily or politically in this region. There is no daylight between Israel and the U.S.A.”

Blumenthal also touted the effectiveness of “maximum pressure” sanctions and said Netanyahu emphasized the importance of sanction enforcement to deter and weaken Iran.

“I would remind the people of the U.S. that the [Houthi] flag says ‘death to Israel, death to America.’ That’s the common mantra among the Iranian proxies … We have a mutual security interest here because the absence of a secure and lasting peace in this region means a continuing source of terrorism for the U.S.,” Blumenthal said.

The senator from Connecticut noted that “the president said if there wasn’t a release of the hostages, there will be hell to pay. Now, Iran ought to be the one to pay hell because, ultimately, they are responsible … They are the head of the snake.”

The senators also saw great opportunity for the region due to Israel having “broken Iran’s axis,” as Blumenthal called it, referring to its successes against Hezbollah and Hamas, as well as the fall of President Bashar Assad in Syria.

Graham said that a day before the Hamas attacks on Israel, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was “very enthusiastic” about a breakthrough that was set to come in a matter of days.

“Oct. 7 was meant to stop normalization,” Graham said. “Iran’s worst nightmare was Arabs and Israelis reconciliation and solving the Palestinian problem in perpetuity.” 

Now, the senator said, “we’re a ways away” because of Israelis hardening their views on reconciliation with the Palestinians and the Arab world seeing “morning, noon and night attacks on the Palestinians.”

“My message is not to give up. I’m very optimistic that we can break through, because there is no other solution,” he said.

Graham also noted that the leadership of the UAE and Saudi Arabia have “the same view of radical Islam as Israel does” and reject Hamas.

Sen. Whitehouse emphasized the need for a deal to include “an understanding” for the Palestinians that Arab states “can bring home to their populations with pride … The best way to do that is to make sure Hamas has no power in Gaza again. That leaves open the question: once Hamas is gone, what is governance for the remaining Palestinians in Gaza? That question could disrupt the comfort of the Arab partners as they conclude the deal.” 

Schiff said that while a two-state solution may be “unpopular” in Israel, he hoped that when “not just a sense of security by Israelis but a reality of security has been restored, we can once again think about what a future can look like.” 

Amid reports that the Pentagon is preparing plans to withdraw troops from the Middle East, Graham said that “a relatively small force in Kurdish-controlled areas [of Syria] not only prevents ISIS from coming back but will provide the level of stability we need in the region.”

The senator also said that Netanyahu told him “American troops in Iraq and Syria are very stabilizing to the region.” If they were withdrawn, Netanyahu believes the “ripple effect would be very dramatic,” Graham said.  

The U.S. does not want to wait “weeks and weeks” for the release of all of the hostages in Gaza, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in an interview on CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday, at the end of his visit to Israel — part of his first official trip to the region in his new role, including stops in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

“There are some [hostages] that are supposed to be released coming up next weekend,” Rubio said when asked about the second phase of the hostage-release and cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas. “We expect that to happen. But we’d like to see them all come out. We are not in favor of waiting weeks and weeks.”

Rubio added that drawing out the releases over the course of weeks “may be the process that’s in place because of the deal, but we would like to see them all out as soon as possible, and we continue to coordinate.”

The secretary of state emphasized that “every hostage needs to come home, every single one, without delay.” 

Rubio’s remarks came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff about the talks. Netanyahu sent a negotiating team to Cairo to “discuss the continued implementation of the first stage of the deal,” according to a statement from the prime minister’s office. Netanyahu has sought to extend the first stage to allow for more hostages to be released before the IDF is expected to withdraw further from Gaza, as stipulated in the second phase of the deal. The prime minister convened a security cabinet meeting on Monday to discuss the second stage of the agreement.

During his visit to Israel, Rubio met with Netanyahu, Israeli President Isaac Herzog and his Israeli counterpart, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar.

In a joint statement with Rubio on Sunday, Netanyahu thanked President Donald Trump for his “unequivocal backing for Israel’s policy in Gaza” and his work in helping secure the release of three hostages over the weekend, saying that the two leaders are working “in full cooperation and coordination.”

“I want to assure everyone who is now listening to us,” Netanyahu said, “President Trump and I are working in full cooperation and coordination between us. We have a common strategy and we can’t always share the details of this strategy with the public, including when the gates of hell would be opened, as they surely will if all our hostages are not released, until the last one of them.”

Rubio emphasized the need to free the remaining 73 hostages immediately in all of his public remarks, telling Herzog that Trump “is strongly and deeply committed to the goal of every single hostage returning home — every single one — and not resting, not being silent, not forgetting until all of them are home … That remains a very strong priority.”

Rubio also referred to Trump’s plan to evacuate Palestinians and have the U.S. rebuild Gaza as “not the same tired ideas of the past, but something that’s bold and something that frankly took courage and vision in order to outline.”

“It may have shocked and surprised many, but what cannot continue is the same cycle where we will repeat over and over again and wind up in the exact same place,” he added, referring to the multiple IDF military operations in Gaza over the last 20 years.

Netanyahu similarly repeated his endorsement of Trump’s plan to the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations — during its annual mission to Israel — on Sunday, soon after his meeting with Rubio: “President Trump has presented a bold new vision, the only viable plan to enable a different future for the people of Gaza, for Israel and for the region.”

“People often call Gaza the largest open-air prison, but not because of us,” Netanyahu said. “Hamas actively prevented civilians from evacuating war zones. If people want to emigrate voluntarily, they should have that choice. This is not ethnic cleansing; it’s about giving people agency over their own lives.”

A recurring theme in Rubio’s remarks was Iran’s sponsorship of the terrorist groups Israel faces in Gaza, Lebanon and beyond.

“At the core of all these challenges,” Rubio said at his meeting with Herzog, “whether it’s Hezbollah or Hamas … when Assad was in Syria and what we see even confronting America in Iraq, the Houthis, there’s one thing. What’s behind all of it? Iran. Iran. And by Iran I mean the regime.”

Rubio called Iran “the single greatest source of destabilization and sponsor of terrorism and violence on the planet … We cannot lose sight of that reality.” 

The secretary of state said in his statement with Netanyahu that “there can never be a nuclear Iran — a nuclear Iran that could then hold itself immune from pressure and from action. That can never happen. The president has been clear about that as well.”

Netanyahu told the Conference of Presidents: “As President Trump and Secretary Rubio have emphasized, we are committed to preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. This isn’t just critical for Israel and the United States; it’s essential for global security.”

Rubio also spoke about rising antisemitism on his visit to Yad Vashem, during which Sa’ar showed Rubio the names of his relatives in the Holocaust remembrance center’s book of names of those murdered in the Holocaust.

The Holocaust, Rubio said, “happened not so long ago. There are those alive today who survived it, who witnessed it as liberators and who witnessed it as those who said nothing while it happened. 

“This ancient poison called antisemitism, which has plagued mankind for centuries, has visited us now again in this new century,” he continued. “It hides behind geopolitics. It embeds itself in international organizations, in the curriculums of our colleges and universities, in the voices of some who hide in social media and even openly espouse this ancient poison.”

Rubio said, “This cannot be tolerated. This must be challenged everywhere it rears its head.” 

A coalition of Black and Jewish lawmakers in Maryland introduced a bill this month to ban the wearing of masks to intimidate or harass, part of a campaign by the Anti-Defamation League and the Urban League that began in the New York State Assembly, where similar legislation is being considered.

The bill, which bans “masked intimidation,” was written in response to the increasing incidence of protesters from across the political spectrum wearing face coverings to obscure their identity and cause disturbances. 

“It criminalizes utilizing masks to intimidate, menace or harass folks, and it’s the same laws we had in place in the post-KKK era,” said Sen. Jeff Waldstreicher, a Montgomery County Democrat and one of the bill’s co-sponsors. 

The bill’s sponsors are billing it as a collaborative effort between the Black and Jewish communities in Maryland, meant as a show of solidarity after the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attacks and the war in Gaza have tested the historic partnership between the two groups.

“Marylanders in general, not just Black Marylanders, but we turned our backs, even in silence, to our Jewish brothers and sisters [after Oct. 7]. That’s why this bill is so important,” said Del. Adrian Boafo, a Prince George’s County Democrat, referring to what he saw as a lack of support for the Jewish community as Israel conducted a retaliatory war against Hamas. “This is a law that says we’re trying to protect our communities and Marylanders.”

On the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks, Boafo wrote an op-ed in The Washington Post expressing his support for the Jewish community as he described his personal reverence for the historic Black-Jewish alliance. 

“I want the Maryland Jewish community to know that it is not alone, even if it often feels that way,” he wrote. “Ours is an alliance built not only on values rooted deeply in our cultures and faiths but also in a shared experience of trauma, ethnic violence, forced displacement, legal discrimination and implicit bias.”

Waldstreicher leaned on the communities’ longtime relationship to explain his decision to support the bill.

“These two groups have always worked together, hand in glove, to found the NAACP, during the Civil Rights era in the 1960s, and now we can do so again,” Waldstreicher said. “The folks who are intimidating African Americans behind masks are the same folks who are intimidating Jewish Americans behind masks.” 

While masking has become a common tactic of anti-Israel protesters, they are not the only ones wearing face coverings to obscure their identity. 

“This is not a Jewish community issue. This is an issue to fight hate and extremism,” said Meredith Weisel, vice president of state and local advocacy at the Anti-Defamation League. Members of the far-right Proud Boys have targeted drag queen story hour and other LGBTQ events in Maryland while wearing masks, Weisel said. 

“This is a tactic that is used by extremists across the ideological spectrum,” said Weisel. “It’s a historic effort that, quite frankly, is coming at a time of crisis across the country, where we are seeing the Jewish community and the Black community and other vulnerable communities that are being directly harassed and terrorized in their own communities.”

The bill has carve-outs for people who wear masks or face coverings for health or religious reasons. According to the legislation, penalties for violating the law would include time in prison for up to 90 days or a fine of $500 on the first offense, and prison time of 180 days or a fine of $1,000 on later offenses.  

The bill will be debated in a hearing of the Maryland House of Delegates judiciary committee on Tuesday.